BODIES... The Exhibition in Seattle through March 28

BODIES… The Exhibition is open in Seattle through March 28.  It features real preserved human organs and muscular and skeletal structures across two levels of interesting, education-packed displays. The exhibit also houses specimens of the nervous, circulatory and digestive systems.

Visitors enter in the middle of the first level of the exhibit and are directed to their left, to meander at leisure.

None of the models include skin or hair, and instead expose internal structures. Lack of an integumentary system for display makes sense, because we see that in the mirror every day.

"Polymer preservation, the process used to preserve the specimens for BODIES…The Exhibition, is a revolutionary technique in which human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber," said the official website, listed below. "This prevents the natural decay process, making specimens available for study for an indefinite time period."

According to one of the "doctors" available for questions walking around the exhibit in a white lab coat, the preservation process includes acetone, liquid silicone, and a pressure chamber. The specimen is first bathed in acetone, which leaches out moisture, and then covered in silicone before being pressurized. The pressure causes the acetone to become gas and the movement of the acetone forces the silicone into the specimen. 

Models are manipulated when still pliable into various athletic positions; the exhibit includes a soccer player, a tennis player and a basketball player. Each highlights the muscles and body systems involved in these movements, and each is a lesson in what the body is capable of.

To highlight the circulatory system, pigmented silicone was injected into the veins of one model and hardened.  After the tissue was corroded away from the silicone, the entire body's network of veins was left. Areas where blood concentrates were also highlighted, like the heart, lungs and kidneys.